When I was a kid I used to map the stars on my elementary pad paper. I would usually put some random dots and connect them just like the constellation appearing in the night sky. Even I was doing that that time I have to be honest that until now I cannot really distinguish the name of the stars (as well as point the exact star) except for Orion’s belt. After doing some weird, indescribable and doodle-looking patterns, I would usually make a story out of it and would say that they were my predictions of the future. Oh well, I was a kid then. Now, I cannot exactly remember those predictions. But one thing remained, my curiosity of things beyond that thin lining that separate the earth from space. Back then, I already believe that we are not alone that those stars might contain some other beings aside from us, that those stars might reveal surprising wonders to us someday, that I might have a new friend from the other star.
No one could beat me when it comes to imagination that time. Maybe I was the only kid in town thinking about some plants bearing fruit with money inside, a rice-plant that can produce rice grains thousand times without cutting them into paddies, corn that can bear instant food, friends from outer space, and creating robots out of the scraps from my father’s junk shop.
Until now, those stars, that I always look at in the sky during clear evenings, remained the same stars for 26 years and with them, my dreams will be immortalized. I always believe and I have hope that man someday will colonize those small twinkling dots in the space above us.
Of course, as a result of that childhood curiosity, I got this habit of monitoring the advancement of man in conquering space.
Noted here are the several important explorations of Man in space. Let’s start with ESA’s endeavors.
ESA – European Space Agency
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Mars Express, so called because of the rapid and streamlined development time, represents ESA's first visit to another planet in the Solar System. The spacecraft borrows technology from the failed Mars 96 mission and from ESA's Rosetta mission that is currently en route to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mission helps to answer fundamental questions about the geology, atmosphere, surface environment, history of water and potential for life on Mars.
Here are some worth keeping links (results of Mars Express data):
… need to cook lunch… (so I have to list the links quickly)
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Venus Express is a follow on from the Mars Express mission. Many of the instruments on the mission are simply upgraded versions of those on the Mars Express platform. After a 153 day cruise to Venus the spacecraft entered Venusian orbit on
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The International Rosetta Mission was approved in November 1993 by ESA's Science Programme Committee as the Planetary Cornerstone Mission in ESA's long-term space science programme. The mission goal was initially set for a rendezvous with comet 46 P/Wirtanen. After postponement of the initial launch a new target was set: Comet 67 P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko. On its 10 year journey to the comet, the spacecraft will pass by two asteroids: 2867 Steins (in 2008) and 21 Lutetia (in 2010).
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The joint ESA-NASA Ulysses deep-space mission was designed to study the heliosphere - the region of space influenced by the Sun and its magnetic field. The primary scientific goal was to make the first-ever measurements of the unexplored region of space above the Sun's poles. Other areas of investigation include determination of the global properties and behaviour of the solar wind, the study of energetic particles of solar and interplanetary origin, measurement of the magnetic field of the Sun and the heliosphere, study of galactic cosmic rays, investigation of how the heliosphere interacts with interstellar space, and participation in a programme to identify the origin of gamma-ray bursts.
Anyway, I think this is enough for now. Always visit this website re: Astronomy matters… Astronomy Blog.
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